The Tuscania is docked at Pier 54 at the Cunard docks on the 23rd of January, 1918; and is in the birth that was formerly reserved for the RMS Lusitania. The ship is manned by Merchant Marines from the United Kingdom, and is assigned to pick up and transport American U.S. Army troops and supplies to Europe. The trip would include stops in Halifax, Canada; Glasgow, Scotland, and possibly a stop in England, the final destination was to be Le-Havre, France. The Tuscania outer appearance had a black hull, two black stacks, with the top deck passenger area painted white. At sometime while in the Hoboken, Dock, in New York, the Tuscania is repainted. The whole outer shell of the ship was first painted white, the Hull, the two stacks, the passenger compartment area. Then an Olive drab was painted on, mainly the hull, this was for camouflage, something that the British were experimenting with. The Tuscania had two smoke stacks, both of them were to remain white.

The ferry boat Chautauqua transports the American soldiers to the Cunard dock where their names are checked before they board the Ship Tuscania. Some of the soldiers arriving at the Cunard docks in Hoboken that day noticed a net full of barracks bags dropped into the water. One can imagine how miserable it must have been for soldiers who had their barracks bags among that lot.

The Tuscania was a luxury Ocean Liner converted over to a troopship in 1916. The ship was owned by the Cunard Steamship Company, and managed by it's subsidiary company, the Anchor Line. The Glasgow Shipping company known as the Anchor Line was purchased by the Cunard Steam Ship Company in November of 1911. The Anchor Line fleet was operated under the business name of "Henderson Brothers Ltd." The Cunard Steam Ship Company managed the British Merchant Fleet during the first World War.

The soldiers traveled from near and far, and now that they have finally arrived, they can enjoy the comforts the Ocean Liner has to offer. As each soldier boards the Tuscania they were ordered to go below deck and stay there until the ship left the harbor the next day. This was for security reasons and to allow the dock workers to load the cargo with minimum interruptions. The U.S. Army marched 2,179 soldiers aboard the Tuscania.

On the 24th of January the Tuscania departs the Cunard dock at Hoboken. The destination was withheld to the soldiers, again for security reasons. Two days later the Tuscania arrives in Halifax, Canada. As the Tuscania drew closer to Halifax on the 26th of January, the soldiers on deck saw that snow had arrived in Canada, and they got their first glimpse of what a war zone must be like.

Just 50 days earlier on the 6th December 1917, a munitions ship Mount Blanc was entering Halifax harbor while a Belgium relief ship Imo was leaving, the two ships collided. A fire broke out on the Mount Blanc, and the crew aware of what was on the ship evacuated quickly. The Mount Blanc drifted to the Halifax Pier ablaze. The Halifax Fire Department responded quickly getting their fire trucks to the pier, and while trying to hook up their hoses the Mount Blanc exploded, creating the biggest man made explosion before the nuclear age. The explosion claimed 1900 lives, another 9000 were reported injured. The entire North End of Halifax was destroyed, some 325 acres.

 

Halifax was the last stop for 21 soldiers, as they were to sick to travel. The Tuscania would depart the next morning leaving these men behind. January 27th, the Tuscania leaves Halifax harbor. Just outside the harbor the Tuscania awaits for 9 other Merchant Troopships, 1 oil tanker, and 1 escorting British Cruiser (HMS Cochrane) to form British Convoy, HX-20. For the soldier, the events that transpired unfolded in front of them without any prior knowledge. As they waited one can imagine, standing on the deck of a ship watching all these ships assembling. The Captain of each ship in convoy HX-20 was given a coarse to sail their ship, and had to adhere to a zig-zagging pattern to make it harder for any lurking U-boat to lock in on their ship. Each Captain was given an order not to stop to assist any ship that falls prey to a U-boat

The British Cruiser HMS Cochrane had the instructions to attack any detected U-boat that may be lurking near the convoy, but they were not to stop to lend any assistance to any vessel that becomes a victim of a U-boat. The HMS Cochrane was the only defense for the entire convoy for their journey across the Atlantic. Many of the men had never been to sea, several men fell sick to the waves. The ships hospital had men that were sick, some having the mumps, chickenpox, or influenza virus. There was no shortage of doctors aboard to treat the ill, the Tuscania had their own doctors, and there were many doctors among the passengers as well. The ships hospital was located at the aft end of the Tuscania, top deck.

The Tuscania went through a heavy sea with a tremendous downpour of rain, the next morning the sea was calm. Alcohol consumption was off limits, even so the men found the bar leaking at times. The men did what they could, to keep themselves entertained. The Card room was popular and they had several boxing matches on deck. Playing Chess was another popular activity. I can only imagine that the activities on the Tuscania probably were not much different than those of modern day cruise ships, accept there were no telephones, no slot machines, and no swimming pools aboard. I am sure that skeet shooting would not have been allowed.

Several men peered out at the open sea at the ships around them, wondering if any of them would fall victim to a German U-boat. There were microphones set at different places below the Tuscania to pick up underwater sounds of submersibles. The microphones were wired to a M-V radio set in the wireless operating room. Other ships in the convoy also had this type of underwater listing devices installed.

The dinning rooms on the Tuscania were not big enough to accommodate all those who were on board to dine at the same time. Each soldier was given an assigned schedule to which dining room section to report to, the table and the time in which they would receive their meals. The meals were staggered to accommodate all those aboard. While there was no actual lifeboat training activities that were performed, they did have lifeboat drills. Each soldier was assigned to a particular lifeboat, in case of an actual emergency, a member of the ships crew would assist them into the lifeboat. Each soldier was assigned a life preserver to wear in case of an emergency. The morning of February 4th, while west of Ireland, their convoy is met by 8 British Cruisers. The British Navy came to escort the convoy through the British Isles commonly known as the Danger Zone.